Dungeon Shade 4

While Athan went inside the backroom on the other side of the portal, Darnom suddenly realized that he went missing so he decided to spoke up.

"Where's Athan?" He asked, looking around the surroundings trying to sight upon Athan. Unfortunately, he didn't noticed the medium-sized door Athan destroyed.

As if noticing that something else was wrong, the other three; Xavier, Reymond and Aries raised their heads up after hearing Darnom's question.

"Your right, he's right next to me a moment ago... Where could he have went to?" With her fingertips under her chin, she looked around for clues on where Athan could have gone to.

𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘦? Aries internally thought. She began to have mixed feelings as she looked around the unknown place. She felt like she had already long known this place even though this was the first time she got here.

The other three was no exceptions as well...

"Why does thXis place seemed familiar?" The boy who had the opposite stature as Darnom, Reymond, raised his head and asked. The other subconsciously nodded their head in understanding.

"You're right," Xavier replied. "This place somehow gives me creep the more we stay here." Saying that, he traced the pattern or lines on the wall as he walked forward until he reached the area where the main core of the laboratory was placed.

The core was shaped like a cube, that had traces of lines surrounding it. If it wasn't for the fact that it was letting out small traces of bluish light inside, he wouldn't have noticed anything of this because it was fully overed in dust.

"Hey, guys... I think I found something."

Saying this, Xavier slowly strengthened his fist in mana and punched the glass off. Then, he extended his hands and took the cube from the broken glass container where it was placed.

"I guess I'll be taking you with us." He placed the cube inside his [Pocket Necklace] and turned around to face the other's general directions.

Then...

When he was about to hop off the staircase, Xavier noticed something moving from the distance. Because of this, with his hands still holding onto the ground, or stairs in fact, and his other hand placed on top of his brows, Xavier squinted his eyes and looked at the familiar figure in the distance.

"Uhh.... Guys? I think I found were Athan is currently at." Hearing this the other three looked to were he was pointing at, as they immediately rushed towards it.

They didn't know why but somehow, they got a bad feeling about the room Athan just entered through.

""Athan!"" The four of them, including Xavier who was still on top, raised their voices in order for them to get Athan's attention.

But... It was already too late.

The moment Athan realized that they we're calling out his name out loud, when he turned around to face them, the four saw many pale arms and hands coming out from his back one-by-one.

Athan didn't realized this in fact, it was as if the hands that was slowly appearing and began holding onto his body inside the room he was in and was on the wall was invisible from his sight.

By the time Athan realized something was wrong, before the door he entered through closed in his face, he managed to mumble something with slight hint of his desperation.

"Get out of here immediat--!!"

-Clank!

Before he could even say his last sentence, the door closed, leaving the four of them inside the laboratory with grim.

The last thing they saw was that behind Athan, there was a figure almost identical to him except that his hair was longer, his body was slightly muscular than his current one, his face held a mischievous smile as he touched Athan's chin, as his stature built was similar to a 18 or 20 years-old or so. It was like they're seeing the older version of him.

The man then decided to pull Athan away from the door, so that he won't be able to reach the door in time if ever he chose to try and escape.

After the four of them reached the door, when Aries was about to bust the door open, the space surrounding them suddenly distorted.

-Vuuaaaaaaaang!

Then, they saw that the 'space' in front of them was suddenly scraped open, revealing a blackish hue inside the huge cut.

"What's happening?!" Darnom asked, as he fell on his knees due to the continues shockwave the cut space in front of them was releasing.

"We need to get out here now!" Xavier took Aries, who remained shock from what's currently happening, to his shoulder and pulled Darnom on his collar.

"What about Ath--"

"I'm sure that Athan can handle himself," He said. "Let just trust him for now and ask Miss Cossette for help. Do you still have your Adventurer's ID?" Xavier asked, as he ordered Reymond who was on his side to pull his ID out of his pocket.

""We still have it."" The three replied in sync.

"Good," was the last thing Xavier said as they made their way and escape the unknown room.

***

Kill!

Kill!

Shed their blood out!

Draw out your sword and slice them up!

The voices in my head became louder than it was never been before.

𝘐𝘵 𝘩𝘶𝘳𝘵𝘴, 𝘥𝘢𝘮𝘯𝘯𝘪𝘵! I clutched my heart as I started panting like I ran off a marathon for 10-hours straight.

For some reason, the voices almost sounded similar to mine. And maybe it was also because of this voices, I'm having the urge to kill. My body felt like it was continiously being sliced with a dull-knife nonstop.

As the voice gets stronger, my mind felt like it was starting to corrupt itself the more the voice spoke.

Show them that you're alive! Show them that 'WE' are alive!!

𝘍𝘶𝘤𝘬! 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘪--

Right where I was about to finish my thoughts, a small drop of saliva fell from my mouth.

...𝘈𝘮 𝘐 𝘴𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨? As the voice in my head continued, I slowly raised my head up and looked at reflection in a broken glass placed on the wall. There, I saw myself smiling sadistically.

𝘕𝘰!! I slapped myself hard to remove myself from these thoughts. I knew that if I didn't made this choice, some part of me wouldn't probably be contain from these 'excitement' I'm feeling.

"Fuck!"

[𝘈𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯, 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦!] Right where I was about to give up, I suddenly heard a familiar voice coming from behind, probably on the same place as the sword...

[𝘐𝘥𝘪𝘰𝘵, 𝘩𝘶𝘳𝘳𝘺 𝘶𝘱 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘶𝘭𝘭 𝘮𝘦 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘶𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘭 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘣𝘰𝘥𝘺!!] It spoke again, making me turn my head. Without opening my eyes, I rushed towards where the voice was coming from. My heart pumped blood faster than it ever did before. My legs filled with strength despite their wobbling.

Soon enough, I reached the voice. As I slowly opened my eyes slightly, I immediately extended my hands and pulled the sword from the throne where it was placed.

I didn't even need to strengthen myself in mana since the moment my hand touched the sword's handle, it felt like it just came out on it's own.

[𝘐'𝘮 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬!!!!] With a loud roar like sound it released, the voices in my head was suddenly blown away from my mind as I was starting to manage to calm myself.

"Not gonna lie, I never thought that I'll miss your annoying voice." I spoke, raising the katana up in the air using the remaining of my strength.

[𝘕𝘦𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘮 𝘐.] It replied.

*

-𝘈𝘯 𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘱𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺...

[𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸... 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵, 𝘐𝘥𝘪𝘰𝘵.] The sword spoke, as it suddenly flew out of it's scabbard to smack my head using the blunt part of the katana.

"If I'm not entirely tired here, I would considered throwing you out to the cliff behind the throne earlier."

[𝘛𝘴𝘬!] The sword's voice sounded like it clicked his tongue or something. [You know what, because of what happened now, it probably had triggered your blackening phase.]

"Blackening what?" I tilted my head and asked. "And what's that supposed to do? Unlock new powers or something?" I said to him sarcastically. But, the sword just remained silent after hearing sarcastic reply.

[Stop joking about it. I'm quite serious here, idiot.] The sword said. [After the blackening phase completed, this world would experience it's greatest nightmare.]

Hearing his comment, I suddenly became curious.

"So... Can I ask you what will happen to me once the blackening phase was complete?" I asked, tracing my fingers to the wall as if I was trying to find a hidden exit.

[𝘈𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘸𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘯.] My sword companion spoke. [𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶'𝘭𝘭 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘭𝘰𝘥𝘦, 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘣𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘺 𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘧 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘦. 𝘞𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘢 𝘳𝘶𝘯𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨-𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘴𝘺𝘤𝘩𝘰, 𝘸𝘩𝘰'𝘴 𝘴𝘰𝘭𝘦 𝘱𝘶𝘳𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘺 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘮𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘦𝘹𝘪𝘴𝘵. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦'𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘴𝘰 𝘢 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘣𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶'𝘭𝘭 𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘶𝘱 𝘤𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥, 𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘬𝘦𝘱𝘵 𝘰𝘯 𝘸𝘢𝘵𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘪𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦.] As the sword spoke, I suddenly had a feeling that he had shook his shoulder (even though he doesn't have one) in contempt.

After a few minutes of silence, I once again opened my mouth and asked, "So, can this blackening phase of mine even be cured?"

It turned silent once again before I suddenly heard a long sigh.

[𝘜𝘯𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘶𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘺, 𝘯𝘰...] He spoke. [𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘴𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘣𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘺𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘪𝘴...]

When I heard him say his next word, I unconsciously swallowed my saliva as I suddenly felt cold chills running down my spine.

[...Is for you to be killed.]